


We Go Together Or We Don't Go Down At All

by sweetbabydean



Series: Po3 Avengers! [6]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Backstory to the Backstory, Bullying, F/F, Foster Care, Gen, Implied Childhood Sexual Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Just a bunch of sadness, Making Friends, With the Occasional Fluffy Part, pre-avengers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-11
Updated: 2017-02-16
Packaged: 2018-09-23 12:44:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9657995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetbabydean/pseuds/sweetbabydean
Summary: Someone had to tell the story of how Cassie and Zoe met. Unfortunately, it's not all sunshine and giggles.Aka the origin story of Team 2 before they were Team 2.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This work is entirely unbeta'd and often written on caffeine binges so please forgive any mistakes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, sorry this world isn't better planned and all the stories are out of chronological order. If you follow this verse any, you should know that [ Rachael ](http://archiveofourown.org/users/RachaelBrach/pseuds/RachaelBrach) and I write for the same verse. Generally our stories align, but they may diverge from each other in certain ways.
> 
> You can find all fics, mine and hers, of this collection [here](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/Po3_Avengers_Assemble/profile).

"Welcome to your new home!" The dark haired woman exclaims, smile plastered onto her face.

Cassie's brows furrow, looking at the place around her with contempt; she doesn't want to be here and if it weren't for that meddling teacher at school, she wouldn't be. If it wasn't for her mother forgetting to pick her up for the fifth day in a row, Cassie would probably still be living in that old, run down apartment complex her mom had moved them into a few months ago. She gets it, really. Her teacher was just doing her job but now Cassie was motherless in a strange place with so many people who only viewed her as a poor child who fell victim to the ways of a crappy parent. 

"I don't like it," she sniffles, rubbing at her eyes. She's tired and she just wants to go home. "I want to go home!"

"This is gonna be your home for a while, okay?" the same woman offers, kneeling in front of her.

"No!"

"Cassandra," another woman, her case worker, sighs, dropping Cassie's bags inside the house. "You can't go home. It's not safe for you."

Cassie stomps her feet and turns, glaring daggers at her case worker. "It's all your fault. I was fine before you came around!" She screams before running off.

"I'm so sorry, Mrs. Lee. She's not usually so.. she's a really good kid."

"Please call me Andrea. But I understand," Mrs. Lee responds, walking the other woman down the hall to get Cassie's bags into her room. "Most kids come to me like that. However terrible the environment, it's the only thing they know. She must be so distraught."

"Yeah," the case worker sighs, rubbing her temples. "I'm gonna go find her. Again, I'm sorry she's being so unruly."

"It's fine, honey," Mrs. Lee states, watching the little girl give the other woman a run for her money.

~

It takes two weeks for Cassie to stop being unruly, to stop acting out. Mrs. Lee is patient though, having been a foster parent for a very long time she knows that most kids don't know what to do with themselves when they are ripped so violently from their homes. She doesn't blame Cassie, only wishes that the girl would realize that Mrs. Lee isn't going to hurt her or send her back.

Some three weeks after Cassie moves in,Mrs. Lee tucks Cassie into bed and Cassie realizes that maybe staying there won't be so bad. Mrs. Lee let her help bake the cookies and even defended her when the other kids tried to make fun of her. She's never really had that, even with her mom so it's kind of scary to know that some strangers can treat you so nicely.

"Mrs. Lee?" Cassie chirps as the woman goes to shut off the lights.

"Hm?" The woman pauses, looking at Cassie fondly.

"I think I might like it here after all."

Mrs. Lee smiles and turns out the lights. "I'm glad, Cassie. I'm glad."

~

All good things come to end though, don't they? Cassie is ten when she’s ripped from her environment once again. Screaming in tears and fighting the case worker like she's being dragged to hell. She doesn't want to leave; this is her home. She was happy here, didn’t they want her to be happy? And Mrs. Lee said she didn’t have to go back, that she wouldn’t send Cassie away. Why was this happening right now?

"You promised! You said you wouldn't send me back!" Cassie screams at the older woman, feeling so much betrayal.

Andrea Lee's heart breaks right then and there into a thousand tiny little pieces. "Wait! For god's sake, please wait!" She hollers at the case worker, a different one from the person who brought Cassie to her two years ago.The case worker lets Cassie go, but the girl just stands there, unmoving while Andrea bends to hug her tight.

“I-I was good, w-wasn't I? I did my ch-chores and I helped with the other kids…” She trails, trying to find where she went wrong.

“Cassandra, look at me,” Andrea whispers, tilting Cassie’s face up. “You are good. You’re so smart and helpful and just an all joy.”

“Then why are you sending me back?!”

“I’m not sending you back, honey! It just,” the woman sniffles, tears filling her eyes. “Your mother wants you back and I’m sorry honey, I tried. But I just, it’s out of my hands.” She tries to explain, heart broken for how lost she feels.

Cassie’s eyes widen, and she starts to fight again. “No! You can’t send me back with her! She doesn’t want me!”

The older woman watches the case worker drag Cassie out of the door after that, her heart breaking for the little girl. She only hopes that Cassie finds the number she slipped into her back pack and gives her a call sometime. She really does love that little girl and wishes her the best. No child deserves to go through what Cassie has, no child at all.

~

Cassie’s only been back with her mom for six months before Child Protective Services steps in again. A teacher apparently noticed the bruises on her skin and called it in. Cassie doesn’t fight them this time, takes it for what it is. Her mother’s eyes don’t shed tears, don’t really show emotion at all any more. Drugs will do that to you, Cassie supposes, just like they’ll impair your judgment and make you allow someone else to put their hands on your child. Cassie sort of wishes her mother would say something, anything, but also wishes she won’t. There’s not anything the woman could say to make Cassie feel better anyway.

~

“Rowdy. Destructive. Cassandra, what has gotten into you?” Her case worker sighs, her fourth in the year that she’s been back in foster care.

Cassie stares blankly at the street that drags out in front of them. She doesn’t have anything to say any more; she’s tired of defending why she’s the way she is. The people she’s been stuck with are the worst kinds of foster parents, the ones who are saccharine sweet while the case worker’s around but meaner than Satan himself after that door shuts. Cassie has a history of being chaotic though, so no one believes her when she tries to speak up so she acts out even more, hoping that she’ll be moved some where different —hoping that maybe her fight is enough to ward off hands trying to touch her in places she doesn’t want them, or leave bruises on her skin where no one kind find them. This time her case worker says she’s going to a group home because no one would take her. Cassie thinks that’s all well and dandy, more kids to disperse the abuse if there is any.

“You know, I try talking with you thinking that I could help you but you just don’t want to let anyone in. I don’t know what to do after this Cassie,” the woman says when they finally pull to a stop. “I wish you’d say something.”

Cassie snorts, turning to her and looking her dead in the eye. “I’ve already tried talking, look where that got me.”

The case worker’s mouth shuts abruptly, staring at Cassie like she has two heads. Cassie rolls her eyes and pushes messy curls out of her face. She gets out of the car and slings her bag over her shoulder, assessing the home from the outside. It looks sort of nice, but in that old victorian home kind of way, with many windows placed all over it. She sighs, shaking her head. Can’t get her hopes up now, if everywhere she’s been since the first home has been shit.

~

Cassie hates it here; she probably hates it more than any place she’s ever been at. Not only are the home workers neglectful but the kids are mean. Cassie usually gets along with kids her age pretty well, but this group is unforgiving. She’s an outsider to them; she’s the new kid and that is enough for them to single her out every chance they get. She eats lunch by herself, usually having to leave the lunch room once they start throwing napkins and things at her. They pull at her hair during movie time and call her ugly names. She’d prefer to be any where else but here because adults she can handle, her peers she cannot.

One boy in particular, Michael ,makes her life a living hell. He goes out of his way to shove her into walls and trip her up when she’s walking. Michael’s older, by a year or so, and every time she tells a home worker about his taunting, they just tell her that Michael is being that way because he likes her. Cassie doesn’t believe that; Joey likes Carla-Ann and doesn’t tease or hit her.

Cassie doesn’t know how long Micheal’s been picking on her but she knows it’s been forever and she’s had enough. “Leave me alone, you big jerk!” Cassie screams, smacking his hands away from her curls as he tries to tug at them.

“Oooh, so you do talk? Whatcha gonna do if I don’t, runt?” Michael teases, shoving the smaller girl up against the wall.

Cassie thinks about taking a swing at Michael’s lop-sided jaw when something hits him in the back of the head. She knows it had to have been pretty hard with the way Michael winces and whips around. Cassie peeks out from behind his body, trembling and silently thanking the tiny angel that’s come to her rescue. The other girl is glaring at Michael, hands on her hips.

“She won’t have to anything, you oaf. Go pick on someone your own size,” the girl bites.

Cassie doesn’t know what it is about the other girl that makes Michael wither away, but obviously not before shoving her again. She’s grateful though, combing her unruly curls back into place and tidying her appearance the best she can. She knows she’s crying, sniffling a bit and wipes at her face, trying to calm down enough to thank the other girl properly.

“Thanks,” Cassie sniffles, huffing out air.

The girl smiles and walks closer and Cassie gets a good look at her. She’s pretty with brown eyes and long twists pulled up into pony tails. When she gets close enough, the girl sticks out her hand, wide smile gracing her round face.

“No problem. I’m Zoe, by the way.”

Cassie grins and takes Zoe’s hand, shaking it firmly. “Cassandra, but most people call me Cassie.”

Zoe nods, grin turning wider. “I can teach you how to fight back, if you want? Michael tends to like an easy target better than one that gives him a run for it.”

“I’d like that!” Cassie exclaims, wiping the remnants of tears from her face. Maybe everyone here isn’t so bad after all.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just realized that this fic kind of, in a way, leads up to[ this one](http://archiveofourown.org/works/9577190/chapters/21654959), so I had to sort of include a romantic relationship between C & Z because like... Sex wouldn't make since if they didn't start somewhere, right? It's probably just a shameless excuse to write a PG version of girl on girl. I'd say I'm sorry, but I'm not...

Zoe spends every moment she can teaching Cassie how to fight. They practice in the back yard, using mats from the younger kids' play room to serve as softer ground for when one of them gets knocked down. Cassie is usually the one getting knocked down, uncoordinated in the worst way. It takes a few months of learning how to duck and move with the weight of her body, how to move fast and catch her opponent off guard. The first time Cassie knocks Zoe down she cries in glee. Zoe congratulates her, picking herself back up and giving the other girl a hug.

"You did good!"

Cassie's grin is so wide her cheeks hurt. "I did, huh?"

Zoe nods and dusts off her clothes. "You think you can take on Michael now?"

Cassie huffs and crosses her arms. "I can take on the world!"

~

Cassie and Zoe are eating lunch outside on one of the picnic tables. The weather’s nice this time of year, not quite so hot that they’d be burning up in clothes that are a size to big but not so cold that they’d need their big winter parkas to even go check the mail. Lunch is peanut butter and jellies with fruit cups today, which isn’t really ideal for any kid at the home going through any kind of growth spurt, but it’s enough to make their stomach feel less empty than it is. Cassie’s got some of it smeared across her face, messy eating at it’s finest and Zoe offers her a napkin to wipe it off.

“Where’d you learn to fight?” Cassie asks, wiping at her mouth.

Zoe chokes on her food some, not expecting to have been asked that. “I uh. My dad. Self defense was important to him when he was alive and he passed that on to me."

Cassie thinks on that for a moment; it just have been pretty cool to have a parent who could teach you such valuable skills. Her mother never taught her anything except what not to be. “That’s awesome.”

Zoe nods, getting a bit of a blank look on her face. “Yeah, it was. Dad taught me everything I taught you, just wish he could have been here to see it, you know?”

Cassie nods even though she doesn’t know, not quite. Cassie has no idea who her father is outside of his last name, knows she has to have received that from him if her’s and her mom’s are different. And besides, Cassie’s mom didn’t exactly have a set of acquired skills worth passing on unless addiction and depression count. They’ve talked about this though, their lives before the system. Zoe came from a two parent home, with a mom and a dad, until her mom died tragically in a car accident, hit by a drunk driver or something. Zoe doesn’t ever talk much about what happened to her dad, just that he was killed and that her life hasn’t ever been the same since then. Cassie understands her friend wanting to keep quiet about certain things, after all, there’s a lot they don’t know about each other still. She hopes that one day they’ll get that close because while she’s never had any biological siblings, Zoe sure makes for a great big sister.

~

She does take on Michael eventually, shoves her fist right into his stupid, ugly face. He deserved it, honestly. He’d tried to push Zoe down the stairs when no one was watching and Cassie’d whipped around as fast as she could to sock him twice: once in the ribs to get him to step back, once in the nose for good measure.

“Don’t ever, ever touch either one of us again,” she tells him, watching the blood run from his nose. “I won’t just break your nose next time.”

She gets a lot of punishment for that, but she takes it like a champ. All the extra chores and absence of fun time is totally worth seeing Michael cower whenever she and Zoe strut by. And if Cassie also likes the smile on Zoe’s face when Cassie proves she can take of herself, well, no one has to know that.

~

Not many eventful things happen in the next few years. She and Zoe cause a lot of chaos by kicking ass and taking names. The older kids there eventually stop messing with them and they get along with the little ones just fine. School’s still as boring as ever and the girls are in different years, but the curriculum is mainly the same since all kids at the home receive a general education. It’s not very intriguing to them since the work seems mundane and is most often on a lower intelligence scale than they both are on. So more often than not, the sit together and read books from the library or talk about what they’d like to do when they leave the home, if that day ever comes.

~

Most families who come to look at the children think Cassie and Zoe are a package deal. Neither of them mind so much, closer than some of the actual sibling pairs residing there. The home workers though, manage to rat them out every time, trying and hoping that a family sees something in one of them and will take the girls of their hands. But nothing happens and time passes. The older they get, the less families bother with them. Some home workers also don’t help the situation. They act like Zoe and Cassie are the spawns of the devil and every time a family come to look at them, a home worker will reply with something like, “they’re a lot of trouble,” and the family slithers out of sight like they’d never even considered giving either one of the girls a chance.

“Whatever happens, you always got me,” Zoe says one day, another failed attempt at finding a family gone by. They’re huddled together on the bed; as old as they are now, it’s still calming for the both of them.

Cassie’s fourteen and is pretty sure they’ll never get adopted, but that’s not really her fear. She’s fourteen and afraid of losing the only person she loves because even though they’re both still here, families more often want to talk to Zoe than they do her.

“Always?” Cassie asks, hands seeking Zoe’s under the blankets.

“Always.”

~

Another year passes and Cassie realizes that her fear of losing Zoe is pretty well warranted. Zoe is seventeen and by this time next year, she’ll be gone, which is a devastating fact all by itself. That same year Zoe gets punt into something called ‘independent living’ which is supposed to be a year long course that helps older foster kids learn how to cope with the real world.

Cassie on the other hand, spends a lot of time by herself that year, crying and feeling lost. Identity crisis is what most people term it as. She doesn’t know who she is and spends a lot of time wallowing over ‘what if’s and trying to navigate her own life. Cassie gets diagnosed with depression and anxiety that year too so it looks like her mom did pass on a few things.

~

Cassie turns sixteen when she realizes she’s got more than sisterly feelings for Zoe. She’s never even had a crush on a boy, let alone another girl, but she knows that what she’s feeling isn’t exactly friendly. Sometimes Zoe smiles at her and Cassie’s pretty sure she’ll burst into flames with how red she gets. She’s also pretty sure Zoe knows it, becomes more than certain when the older girls start taunting her about it, throwing her winks and sly smiles like everything is normal. It’s confusing but she rolls with it.

“You know, if you actually kissed me, maybe you wouldn’t get lost so much up in that big head of yours trying to imagine what it’d be like,” Zoe teases, nudging Cassie with her toes.

The girl just turns redder, immediately dragging herself out of whatever daydream she was in. “I-I-I,” she stutters, and it feels a lot like things can’t get any worse. Doesn’t matter if she wasn’t actually daydreaming about kissing Zoe, her inability to form a coherent sentence is pretty much verdict enough.

Zoe’s eyes roll and before Cassie can comprehend anything, Zoe’s plush lips are on top of hers and it’s a bit like heaven and Cassie feels like she might be sick but in an “I’m so happy, I’m going to barf” kind of way.

“I expected you to be a little more active here, Cas. Work with me.”

Cassie doesn’t need to be told twice and even though it’s her first kiss, she thinks she does a pretty fine job. Zoe’s reddened cheeks and heavy breaths are also a pretty good indication. She smiles a lot and it’s hard to kiss Zoe when she’s giggling every two seconds. Everything feels pretty perfect in the end, especially when it’s over and they can still do homework together without it being awkward.

“I love you,” Cassie blurts, totally undignified.

Zoe’s eyes roll once again and she tosses her pencil at Cassie’s head. “I love you too, boo. Now back to work.”

~

Their relationship is pretty PG, some times PG-13 if they can get away with it. Everything stays pretty normal but with the added bonus of getting to feel up a hot girl, which honestly, Cassie thinks is a sweet fucking deal. What she and Zoe have is pure and untainted and well, just awesome. They always have each other’s backs and nothing ever gets weird or uncomfortable. Cassie wishes that they could stay like this forever, ignorant to everything around them while inside of this cocoon of friendship and love.

Unfortunately, life just isn’t that simple, is it?


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be the first to admit that this story, this 'verse, has gotten away from me. This Avengers 'verse was supposed to be a away for Rachael and I to have fun and just write porny threesomes featuring all the avengers, but like, it's become and entirely different animal.
> 
> This is the last installment of this particular fic, unless I decide that an epilogue of sorts would be fun. In my mind, Zoe and Cassie don't make it to New York right away. They have to lay low in podunk cities sometimes and pick up odd jobs here and there, until eventually, Cassie turns eighteen and the cops are no longer looking for her as she is an adult and would have aged out of the system, any way.
> 
> This story was initially meant to be more heart-wrenching, but I decided against it. Some things mentioned in this story really resonate with me as an individual and are reflections of what I have personally been through as a product of the Foster Care System. I also did not go into detail with it because well, I haven't gotten that far in my own coping so yeah.
> 
> Anyways, I hope you enjoy this "pre-avenger" time for Cassie and Zoe and please let me know if you'd be interested in reading about their journey to New York! Happy reading!

Zoe gets a job about three months before it’s actually time for her to leave the home and Cassie gets more and more anxious by the day. Zoe leaving is like losing a sister, a best friend, and a lover all in one. Cassie doesn’t want her to go, but knows its inevitable so she clings to the older girl whenever she’s around like Zoe’s going to walk out of that main door one day and forget about her.

“You think I’m gonna leave and forget you?” Zoe asks, hurt look all over her face; Cassie hadn’t realized she was talking out loud.

“Uhm, no?”

Zoe tsks, staring down into wide, brown eyes. “Forgetting you would be like forgetting a part of myself. Or have you forgotten that you’re all I have in this world too?”

Cassie’s too emotional to try for coherent sentences, so she pulls Zoe in for a kiss, creating a distraction the best way she knows how. Zoe lets herself be kissed for a few moments before pulling back and raising her eyebrows at the younger girl. Cassie can be ridiculous at times, especially when she thinks engaging in taboo activities (such as making out in their childhood beds) will erase the fact that she’s being a complete goose egg about things.

“This conversation isn’t over, okay? Just….postponed.”

“Mhm. I hear you,” Cassie mumbles, pulling Zoe right back in.

~

“Take me with you,” Cassie blurts, homework long forgotten as she watches Zoe sort of what she’s keeping and what she’s getting rid of, not that the girl has much in the first place.

Zoe laughs, little crinkles near her eyes and everything, only turning serious at the look on Cassie’s face. “You’re serious?”

Cassie shrugs, face ablaze. “Well-“

“Absolutely not,” Zoe deadpans, like it’s final and there’s nothing Cassie can do to change her mind, but the younger girl isn’t gonna give up that easily.

“Why not? There’s nothing for me here. I start independent living in two weeks, the same time you move out. I’ve already finished high school, thanks to you. Why do I need to stay? You aren’t going to be here and it’s not like I’ve made any friends so who’s going to miss me?”

Zoe sighs, looking at the younger girl with a bit of disbelief and a lot of love. This girl is her whole life outside of work and being her own person so it’s impossible not to feel the words tug at her heart because she knows how much Cassie is afraid of being left behind. They’ve both spent their whole lives being left out, left behind, forgotten. Granted, she thinks Cassie was more detrimentally affected by her past, seeing as her mom chose to leave and neglect her, whereas Zoe’s parents were ripped violently from her but had spent their lives showing her that they loved her. Cassie’s used to the people that she loves walking away and leaving her behind and Zoe knows that the girl is afraid Zoe will do the same. But that’s the thing, Zoe isn’t everyone else and they have a bound she would consider not easily broken. Cassie of course, doesn’t, can’t, see beyond her own fear.

“You need to stay here. How am I gonna protect you if you’re out there doing God knows what while I’m at work? What if someone recognizes you and hauls you away, huh? What do I do then?”

Cassie huffs, staring at the floor in front of her. “Not a kid, Zo. I can take care of myself.”

Zoe laughs, but it’s not malicious. Walking over to the other girl, she smiles, pulls Cassie’s head down —when the fuck did she get so tall? —to put their foreheads together. “Not a kid, no. But you’re mine, right?”

Cassie nods, still not looking at the other girl. “Yeah, yours.”

“And I take care of what’s mine?”

The younger brunette nods again, finally making eye contact despite the overwhelming feeling of betrayal and loss in her gut. Zoe loves her and this isn’t going to be the end of them, right?

~

They start fighting a lot once Zoe’s officially gone. Cassie withdraws into herself because she doesn’t see Zoe much anymore; it’s hard to go from seeing someone everyday to seeing them once or twice a week. Cassie knows logically that Zoe isn’t purposefully avoiding her but the amount of hours she works and the amount of time Cassie has outside of independent living activities just don’t line up. There’s actually very little time to be together, whether it’s spending time as sisters/friends or trying to get hot and heavy in the back of Zoe’s new van.

It’s petty fighting really and Cassie’s usually the one to start it. She can’t help it. Sometimes she feels like she’s being forced to live inside a body, live within her skin that feels like its seven sizes too small and she just wants out. Zoe finds it hard to reason with her when she’s like that and is often on the other end of a silent treatment or five. Regardless of the topic or reason they’re fighting, Zoe doesn’t ever let Cassie walk away without knowing that she’s loved. Whatever happens, the older girl will be damned if the reason they fall apart is because Cassie didn’t feel loved.

~

However, getting off of work and find Cassie shaking in the back of her van is the last thing Zoe thought she’d see tonight. They’d been fighting again, though Zoe admits that it was her fault for assuming that Cassie had replaced her, feeling stupid for having believed that the taller girl had been afraid of being forgotten when Cassie was hanging off someone else the entire time. It’s past midnight and she’s tired as hell but her best friend is trembling and crying and Zoe really wants to punch something, hard.

“I know, I know you wanted me to stay there, but I couldn’t. N-Not after…”

She doesn’t really have to explain anything further because Zoe takes in Cassie’s appearance and comes to the conclusions of A) whoever tried something got their ass handed to them and B) whoever tried something needs to get their ass handed to them again. As tired as she is, she still crawls into the back with her friend and holds the other girl close, noting that there’s a few extra bags in the back that must belong to Cassie. When Cassie’s calmed down enough that she’s not shaking, Zoe asks what happened, fully prepared to go kick ass at zero dark thirty if needed.

“I’m sure you have an idea,” Cassie starts, to which Zoe nods, “But let’s just say he wanted something I didn’t and I may have, uhm, knocked him unconscious and stole his wallet?” She says in a rush, smiling through her tears.

Zoe laughs, free and loud, before checking herself. “He didn’t actually,” she pauses, not wanting to let the words come out her mouth.

“No! I mean, not for lack of trying but I just, I don’t know. I thought we were friends and then he started spewing bullshit about always being in the friend zone and yada yada. I thought he could have come in second place, ya know, hold me over while I’m bored until you came around but obviously, I’m too oblivious to be friends with boys.”

Zoe nods because Cassie really is too oblivious for own good. But she’s been kind of sheltered most of her teenage life, which okay, Zoe is kind of to blame for that too. “You know we’ll have to leave here, right?”

Cassie shrugs, sheepish. “I’m sorry.”

Zoe shakes her head, thousand watt smile coming out. “Nah, I wanted to quit anyway. Let’s get some sleep, yeah? We’ll figure it out in the morning.”

Zoe only has a twin sized mattress in the back, as it was only her sleeping back there. Luckily, she and Cassie are quite used to sharing a twin sized mattress but she knows it would be in their best interest to upgrade soon. Cassie snuggles up behind Zoe and falls asleep almost instantly, most likely tuckered out from all the hitchhiking and/or running she had to do to get here. It takes Zoe a bit longer to find peace, if only because she can’t help wondering what the fuck they’ve gotten themselves into.

~

It’s ass o’clock in the morning when Cassie wakes up to the sun shining in her face. She groans, rolling onto her stomach and shoving her face in the pillow. She has a headache and really just wants to cuddle with her best friend and sleep for another ten hours. Zoe, obviously, has other plans.

“Rise and shine, cupcake!”

“Ugh, Zo, why?” Cassie whines, stubbornly refusing to roll over and face the sun again.

“We’ll you’re a runaway, in case you don’t remember, and I might possibly be charged with kidnapping within a few hours if we don’t get our shit together,” Zoe responds steely, obviously not playing games.

Cassie groans again, sitting up and cradling her own head. Yeah, she remembers runaway all right, her feet are fucking aching; she’s sure they’re covered in blisters by now. However, as much as she’d rather ignore the facts, she does realize the severity of what’s going on here so she tries her best to squint her eyes and look at her best friend properly.

“What do you wanna know?”

Zoe’s eyes flick over to the corner of the van where Cassie’s bags lay and Cassie’s surprised Zoe hasn’t rifled through them yet, or if she has, she was very good about making it inconspicuous. “What’s in them?”

“Uhh,” Cassie thinks for a moment, remembering what she took with her. “Jason’s wallet? My important documents. An extra five hundred in cash. Two changes of clothes. A rosary. And oh! One of the laptops from the computer lab!”

“You… stole one of the laptops?” Zoe asks with disbelief. They had that media center on lock down with serious security. “How did you-“

“Easy. The media lab monitor doesn’t actually ever watch what kids are doing in there. How do you think everyone gets access to porn? It’s so easy to get into the right parts of the internet. I watched a few hacking videos, read up on some stuff, easy peasy.”

“You planned this?”

“Well, not exactly. Running away to be with you was always the plan. Doing it this early and with little to no preparation, however, was not.”

Zoe can’t believe her ears. “So you’re saying you can hack into things now?”

Cassie nods, picking at the blanket around her. “Mostly little things,” which earns her a huff from Zoe, “like security, well, low grade security systems, secured wifi, things of the sort. I could probably successful hack into something like a PayPal account, and discreetly transfer the funds. If you wanna rob a bank though, I gotta brush up on my skills.”

It takes Zoe a moment to process the information thrown at her. Trust Cassie to be the one with the most unorthodox skills here. They’ll come in handy though, Zoe has to admit, if her plan is going to work. Speaking of which, she needs to inform Cassie so they can get a head start on whatever cops will be after them by midnight tonight.

“Well we better get moving, buttercup. We don’t have any time to waste.”

Cassie nods and crawls up front with the older girl, buckling herself in before Zoe drives onto the main road. “You’re okay with this?”

“I mean, not exactly? But hey, think of it like a road trip, right? We’ve always wanted to do one of those.”

Cassie looks over at the other girl and smiles big, excitedly nodding her head. “Where to?”

“First, coffee and gas or we’re not going anywhere. Next, wherever our little hearts desire.”

~

After successfully filling up the van and grabbing coffee and snacks, the two girls are back on the road again. Cassie’s quietly munching on a slim jim when Zoe blurts, “New York!”

“New York?” Cassie chokes, food going down the wrong pipe.

“Why not? It’s a big city, lots of opportunity. I’ve always wanted to see the Statue of Liberty and watch the ball drop. Can’t tell me you’ve never dreamed of those things.”

Cassie hasn’t actually, but then Cassie hasn’t dreamed of a lot of things. The only thing she’s ever really dreamed of was making it out of the system alive, preferably with Zoe by her side. She looks out her window and smiles, thinking about how things didn’t quite go to plan but she’s with her best friend and everything is going to be all right. They have each other, they always have, and that’s enough ammunition to take on whatever the world has to throw at them.

“New York, it is then!” Cassie shouts, turning up the radio.

Zoe grins, wide and free. Cassie is her best friend, her partner in crime, her sister. Come what may, they’d go down together, or they wouldn’t go down at all.


End file.
